Category: Food & Drink

Waitrose

In France a house in a village with a boulangerie is worth more. In the UK good schools raise property prices but what about a Waitrose?

Où est le Garlic

“I’m going to cook you the best meal you’ve ever eaten.” That’s how Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) seduces Jean Courtney (Sue Lloyd) in The Ipcress File, the 1965 film version of Len Deighton’s 1962 novel.

Temple Time

Friends invited me today to the Hindu temple in Neasden, as they thought it would interest me and it did. The building, opened in 1995, has intricate carving in stone and wood and an elaborate archway, above.

Hadji Bey’s Turkish Delight

Memories of childhood Christmases at Barmeath include special things only eaten then. A butcher in Drogheda, Kierans, made spiced beef (aka Red Round), crystallised fruits came from Dublin and Turkish Delight called Hadji Bey was made in Cork.

Corbin & King

Rolls and Royce, Bryant and May, Callard and Bowser, Huntley and Palmer, are as well-known as fish and chips. A relatively new pairing is Corbin and King.

Incense and Truffles

Macbeth; Act I: First Witch … her husband’s to Aleppo gone … On Good Friday in 2000 I didn’t pay for a ticket on the Heathrow Express and I wasn’t a fare dodger. I went to the wrong terminal and there was no charge to take the train between terminals. I just caught the direct BA… Continue reading Incense and Truffles

Hooray for Mateus Rosé

An army friend told me that he had arranged a reunion dinner for his intake at Sandhurst. To make it more interesting he got copies of their Sandhurst reports and put them at their places. They all opened them, most laughed and shared the contents with their neighbours but some hastily put them away. These… Continue reading Hooray for Mateus Rosé

Mom’s the Word

Season of mists, etc. – thank you Keats. What with Southern Rail’s autumn timetable that leaves a forty-five minute gap between trains from Victoria to Gatwick and those mists I had a longish day yesterday.

Norman Murphy – Part One

Every two years the PG Wodehouse Society holds a dinner to celebrate his birthday. Demand for places outstrips supply so I often don’t go, to give other members a look-in. This week I  did attend but the evening was over-shadowed with sadness.

Hello Mr Chips

I have advance notice, via Time Out, that a certain royal personage will be seen streaking in Soho at the end of this month.